Sunday, 27 December 2015

During the winter months i've found myself baking a lot more than usual and today was no exception, as i was attending a friends birthday i thought i would bake up some treats to take with me and cookies were my first thought.. milk chocolate super soft Millies style cookies!

Ingredients:

125 grams softened butter

100 grams light brown sugar

125 grams caster sugar

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract (i forgot to add this and they still tasted amazing)

225 grams self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

200 grams chocolate chips/chunks

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.

Cream the butter and sugars, once combined add the egg and vanilla.

Sift in the flour and the salt and combine together, adding the chocolate chips/chunks along the way.

Roll into walbut size balls, for a more homemade look, or roll into a long, thick sausage shape and slice to make neater looking cookies, i placed 6 on each tray as cookies tend to expand when cooking so you need to allow for more room than expected.

Cook for just 7 minutes till the cookies are just setting, they will look really doughy but this is fine they continue to set once out of the oven to become soft and delicious!

This recipe is so easy virtually anyone can make these delicious cookies, i packaged mine into little clear bags with handmade labels, they also keep for a long time too which is great as i made around 24 cookies with this batch so great if you can resist eating them all in one go ;)

I plan on making some more this week, im thinking white choc chip and some terrys chocolate orange ones too!

Do any of you have any reccomendations for what i could add to my cookies, let me know, and if you happen to make these yourself dont forget to tag me in your photos @frankieboox

Monday, 26 October 2015

So last week i travelled not to far away to a place called Puerto Banus, a Marina located in Marbella Spain, a much needed break away with Samuel, his sister & her partner.

We stayed in the most amazing villa in the mountains, the views were the most spectacular i've laid my eyes on in a while, awaking in the morning to views of the sunrise behind mountains, white wash buildings, palm trees and the sea was exactly what my life needed!

Puerto Banus Port is the most amazing place to visit if you want to see a life of pure luxury, with high end store from the likes of Hermes to Dior and million pound yachts among speed boats and supercars, you leave with an insight into how 'the other half live'!

Bars are strewn with beautiful people with there shisha pipes and cocktails in hand, whilst men drive around in lambos and ferraris aiming to attract the attention of the passers by, dont get me wrong as lovely to look at as it is, it is very ego-tistical and a "look at me" lifestyle, but visiting just makes you feel like you are living that life just for five minutes so it makes it super fun!

We travelled to the main island of Marbella via boat which was amazing, it had open canopies above the ocean water in which you could sunbathe (even if the weather wasnt exactly co-operating)

The weather was slightly shocking and we ended up travelling back to where we were staying due to nothing being open that day from the weather + a bank holiday which we had no idea was happening that day!

We shopped at local markets, which sold everything from replica handbags, ceramics and jewellery!

I picked up some beautiful pieces, although i couldve quite happily have come away with a lot more but unfortunately baggage allowances wouldnt have allowed me to do so (sad face)

I have been wanting to find little additions like these for a while now, i knew that the markets would definitely have had something along the lines of what i was wanting but these pieces were better than i expected to find, the coasters are originally from Marrakech and i just love the patterns and colours of them, and the bowl is made locally, this will be used for my love of balsamic vinegar and olive oil!

Aside from all the site seeing and shopping, we had a lovely time just relaxing around our pool, taking in the views and having a real chill out time, we cooked ourselves BBQ's and also dined out in the port and at local restaurants nearby, your typical holiday!

It was so lovely to have some time away, but its back to normality for now, and to start preparing for christmas time and snuggle up under fur throws and drinking hot chocolate!

I also vlogged our entire trip so if you fancy having a little nosey further into what we got upto have a little watch of those here..

I hope you enjoyed this post, have any of you been away this year, i would love to hear about it as im always looking for new places to visit in the future and love hearing your reccomendations :)

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Good morning all my lovely followers, hope your all doing well this Tuesday morning?

As i explained in my previous post, i am finally back to making Youtube videos and my most recent video is my everyday makeup routine, i had a great time filming this but i am slightly disheartened with the quality so i am going to upgrade to a new camera, i have my eye on the Canon 750d does anyone have this camera or know if any other amazing ones out there that film high quality Youtube videos, if you do please leave me a comment and let me know your suggestions as im wanting to purchase this fairly soon and have a little play around in the shops with them all :)

Anyway i hope you like the video, comment, like, subscribe and all those good things if you would like!

Monday, 5 October 2015

Happy October my lovelies, hope your all doing well and enjoying the lovely autumnal weather (my favourite time of the year)!

I have decided to get back into making YouTube videos, im so so excited by this, i literally love filming and weirdly enjoy the editing, i find it so relaxing, even if it does take a whole day for me to edit a 7 minute video but i guess it will all be a great learning curve for me, and hey it can only get better, cant it?

My first video is my September beauty favourites, there have been a few this month so grab a cup of tea and have a little look of my newest video!

I hope you all enjoy it, subscribe to my channel if you would like to see more from me and please leave me a little comment on your feedback if you have a second :)

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

So i rarely ever divulge into sharing my personal/work related areas of my life through this blog and ive been thinking recently that i really should, as some people may know i work as a freelance makeup artist and have done for around 3/4 years now and the basis of my work is weddings, and when it came to this wedding i just couldn't not show it to you guys!

The beautiful and very colourful bride Clare was seriously one of the nicest people ive ever met, with the most amazing tattoos and vibrant personality, i knew from the minute i met her for her bridal trial that her wedding was going to be amazing and i definitely wanted to be a part of it!

On the day i had Clare and her three bridesmaids to do, who were equally all as lovely and entertaining in there own rights and definitely made the early morning start a bearable one.

For Clare the look was very simple, a bold statement red lip, i used Lancome's La Laque Fever which literally doesnt budge so perfect for a wedding day where you know topping up makeup throughout the day probably wont happen!

For the base i used Dior Skin Foundation, which is a lovely lightweight dewy foundation, i then powdered down the TZone with Clarins - Everlasting Powder Foundation, added a touch of Mac - Dolly blusher with Kevin Aucoin Celestial Highlighter in Candlight on the high points of Clares face.

For the eyes Clare wanted to keep it really simple with a bold wing liner and fluttery lashes, for this i used the Naked 2 Pallette and just used a light dusting of Foxy all over the lids with Mac Fluidline in Blacktrack for the liner, using a Mac liner brush to give a full but very neat winged line, finished off with Clarins Waterproof Mascara and Ardell Demi Wispie lashes.

I thouroughly loved creating this look for Clare on her big day and am so pleased with how her vision has played out on camera in these images, incase your wondering the beautiful photographs are the work of a very talented photographer from Kent named Emma, you can view her work here.. and between you and i, i have her on my list for my wedding, her work is literally stunning!

If Clare isn't hugely proud of how amazing there wedding turned out to be then what about a magazine wanting to feature your wedding in their latest issue, how amazing is that, the piece will be in Rock N Roll bride, how bloody cool!

Thats all from me today guys, let me know what you think of this sort of post and if you enjoyed seeing a little insight into something different on the blog?

Friday, 3 July 2015

So we all have those favourites we go back to time and time again, those products you find your self frantically searching for a back up of, or scraping out every last drop and theyre always those luxury ones you know cost you a months wages and beyond!

Bath Salts & Milks

Bath products are literally my saviour when it comes to aiding my relaxation after a long day at work, as a sufferer of anxiety the bath is my haven and having products like bath salts and milks literally make it into my own little sanctuary i can run away to and probably fall asleep ;)

Neals Yard Remedies - Lavender Bath Salts, these are genuinely the best product you can find to help you drift of to sleep easily at night, when im struggling to settle down in bed i have a bath with a spoonful of these thrown in and i can pretty much gaurantee ill sleep peacefully that night!

Burts Bees - Therapeutic Bath Crystals, i usually pull these out when im feeling under the weather, achey or just in general need of some real stress relief, they pack a huge punch when it comes to making you feel better, the scent is very strong but it makes you feel completely revitalised and refreshed, if you can give them a sniff, theyre amazing!

The White Company - White Lavender & Neroli Bath Milk, if I could have giant container sized bottles of this stuff genuinely id have it, my absolute favourite bath product on earth!

The milk itself is lovely & lightweight so concentrated which gives you the most amazing big bubble baths with minimal use, the scent is divine, the lavender is very subtle with the neroli taking a big part of the scent, its very spa like, leaving you feeling completely calm and serene, you can tell calm is definintely something i try and aid when it comes to bath times!

Bath Oils

Bath oils are something i find alot of people dont know alot about and therefore tend to avoid them, i personally loveeverything about them,

the silky soft feeling they leave you with after a bath is just the best, im a lazy person when it comes to moisturising so anything that means i dont have to is a thumbs up from me!

Ren - Morrocan Rose Otto Bath Oil is one that i use on a regular basis, the scent is really lovely and leaves you smelling beautiful even after your bath, as i said earlier my skin is left lovely and soft after using this.

My favourite oil though is Beaautannia - Brideshead & Bloomsbury, i first discovered these in a wander into Space NK, i literally fell in love with the scent of Brideshead, its really deep and musky, it reminds me of Tom Ford Black Orchid in oil form, and then Bloomsbury is a close second, this is alot more floral and light and more for spring/summer time, sadly Space NK have discontinued them so i am reluctant to use my last bottle but i do believe you can still pick them up at some T K Maxx stores!

Another oil i use is one that doesnt go in the bath but is one i use straight out of the water, as i said before i really dislike moisturizing as i cant deal with how long it takes the product to sink into my skin, dry and not feel clammy so instead i use Nuxe - Huile Prodiguese Body Oil, you apply this straight onto wet skin, quickly rub it in and it dries as quickly as it would take for you to allow the water to naturally dry on your skin.

Exfoliators

Ren - Exfoliating Body Balm is my all time favourite scrub, i wont go into huge detail on this product as my last post is a review of it so if you want to know more on this one have a little look here..

Hair Masks

When having a long bath a hair mask is a definite must, you can apply it as quickly as when youve gotten into the tub and leave it on whilst you read your book or if your anything like my prop your macbook up on the side of the bath and watch endless YouTube videos until you fall asleep.

The best one ive ever tried is the Phillip Kingsley - Elasticizer Extreme, applied to dry hair you just leave it on to really penetrate into the hair and then wash/condition your hair as normal, it adds protein and really strengthens the hair from root to tip, i like to use this especially when i have a big event il be going to the next day to ensure i have perfectly smooth locks!

So I've shown you my favourites, i hope you learnt a little and have been tempted to try a few new ones out if you havent already, let me know what your bathtime favourites are :)

Lots of love, Frankie ♥

P.s

I have created a group for all you fellow bloggers/vloggers out there, its a group where you can share your links for your current content and meet like minded people, feel free to join and add your work!

Tuesday, 30 June 2015

Seeing as summer has fast approached us, we all need to amp up on our skincare throughout the warmer season as theres a whole lot more body on show these days and dry skin is a definite no-no!

Rens exfoliating body balm is the product of choice for me, exfoliating the skin is a key part to keeping your skin smooth, supple and flake free.

The body balm is full of beautiful oils which for starters smell heavenly but adorn the skin in rich moisture, its grainy texture removes dead skin cells allowing the oils to penetrate deeply for perfectly nourished skin.

Basil, peppermint and olive oil along with guarande sea salt make this the perfect combination for dry skin, they gently exfoliate, moisturise and nourish the skin, apply to dry skin before your bath/shower or for a gentler treatment apply to wet skin and rinse off.

I've been literally loving this the past few weeks and can't see myself putting it down anytime soon, I can imagine this being a lovely winter product too as the scent is very refreshing and uplifiting, so its large size tub will keep you going for a long while!

Have any of you tried Rens body products, I'd love to hear your opinions on them!

Monday, 29 June 2015

As some of you may know, i previously worked for Clarins, during this time i discovered a few firm favourites and one of them is the True Radiance foundation.

True Radiance is literally the most beautiful, flawless-inducing foundation i have ever used, and believe me i have tried ALOT.

The formula is very lightweight but incredibly dewy, i would say a little powder is neccesary with this product just on the T zone, im someone who is more on the drier side and even this is a little

too dewy for me, as i said having drier skin makes this foundation a god send for me as it has some really fantastic skincare properties, shea butter nourishes the skin feeding it some well needed moisture, whilst moringa seed makes the skin luminous and bright.

The photo above just shows the product lightly buffed with my fingers, personally i use a duo fibre or stippling brush to give the most natural effect, the pigmentation is very high considering it feels so sheer and lightweight on the face.

I would even go as far as saying this is my holy grail foundation, it lasts all day, is natural, yet flawless without feeling cakey on the skin and just gives everyone ive ever applied it to the most perfect looking skin whilst remain soft and dewy!

What are you favourite foundations and are there any that you reccomend i give a try, and have any of you tried this particular foundation, what are you thoughts on it?

See you all soon, Frankie♥

P.s

I have created a group for all you fellow bloggers/vloggers out there, its a group where you can share your links for your current content and meet like minded people, feel free to join and add your work!

Saturday, 20 June 2015

Minimal makeup is definitely my go-to right now, anything that takes longer than five minutes to apply just doesnt cut it for me right now!

My approach to makeup has changed drastically since changing jobs, from working in a department store as a makeup artist/beauty manager i learned how to apply makeup quickly and effectively with minimum effort and it is something that since leaving that career i still put into practise everyday!

The Base

The best way to look fresh faced and awake is to always apply a great moisturiser which works as a base for the products you will apply later on, seeing as this is a quick and easy look, i use the Dr Jart BB cream, this has a shed load of fantastic qualities for your skin to literally drink up, it contains serum, moisturizer and fantastic coverage all in one little tube, along with a beautiful radiant glow,

it really is amazing!

If im feeling suitably pale i will just roughly contour and bronze myself using Soleil Tan De Chanel - Chanel, using a medium sized brush i just sweep this in the hollows of my cheeks and then naturally where the sun would hit my face just to give myself a healthy glow, something my face usually never has the honour of having!

On the apples of my cheeks i dab a little of the Max Factor Miracle Touch Creamy Blusher, again a very quick and versatile product which creates a really lovely dewy glow.

Eyes

To fill in my brows i use the Sleek Brow Kit just to fill out the shape a little and make them a little darker than usual as my brows are very light, and for mascara the Chanel Le Volume is perfect for a one application wonder, its the blackest formula i know and the easiest for full foolproof thick lashes!

Lips

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know i am a huge bold lip coveter, think Mac Candy Yum Yum & brighter and I'm all over it, but when it comes to a natural quick look it has to be something that i dont need to line my lips with and if it wears off throughout the day doesnt neccasarily need touching up, my go to shade for that is Mac Pink Plaid, it is the perfect everyday berry pink colour that is fuss free and just looks a little more polished than wearing nothing at all!

So that concludes my five minute everyday face, and even though they take little time to apply the longevity of the products generally last me a whole day without the need to retouch throughout the day which is the best part of it all!

Friday, 19 June 2015

After procastinating over and over for the past few months, i've finally logged back into blogger and now im here writing this post for you all!

Sooo, whats happened over the past 6 months?

I thought i had literally done nothing so far but writing this post made me realise actually quite a lot has happened since my last post, weve finally moved back in with Samuels parents, a major shock to my system living with other people but we are already half way through our journey here and suprisingly to me im feeling quite settled here recently (thats not to say i dont massively miss my own space and cravings for all white interiors) but thats all to come and for now i will have to lust over pinterest and gather ideas for when we move.

-

In my last blog entry i had said how i wanted to lose the weight i had gained from being on medication and i can say i have succesfully managed to shed a ton of weight, 61 lbs or 4 stone 4lbs to be precise!

I lost the first 31.5 lbs myself, just by literally coming off of medication and allowing my body to adjust to the changes it had gone through, but during this transition i joined Slimming World, where i lost the remainding 29.5 lbs through there plan and also through light exerce at the gym and regular sessions at the local pool!

Losing weight has made a HUGE difference to my life, pshyically, mentally and to be completely frank, looks wise too!

I feel comfortable in my own skin now, and finally feel like me again, a lot of the reason i hadnt posted much on here recently was due to the fact i was going through a huge lifestyle change and i really want to give you all the best of me and i just wasn't happy before.

Now you can look forward to much more fashion and beauty hauls, and i will finally feel comfortable posting outfit of the day posts on here, i literally cannot wait!

I still have around another half a stone i want to lose to be completely where i want to be but im so close now and really, if i had to stop now id be happy where I've gotten to :)

-

Im sure you can see by the title i also have some more amazing news to share with you all..

IM ENGAGED!!!

I literally never thought the day would come where Samuel would finally ask me to be his wife, i am so over the moon and so excited to be on such an amazing journey with the love of my life!

I have now become a Pinterest bride-to-be obsessor and have a million different ideas of how i would like our day to be, i believe we have a date set in our minds of when we would like it to be (around May 2017) so i have lots of time to plan everything and a lot more time to be saving!

-

Andddd... finally as some of you may be aware, i have a new blog layout/background and this has given me a new lease of life when it comes to blogging again, i finally feel like im in a place where i can dust off the macbook and type away to my hearts content.

Im so happy to feel back in the swing of things again, in my life and with my little space on the internet too, everything just feels so good right now and im going to be sharing it all with you along the way!

I do hope you have enjoyed reading my little update and i would love to hear from you all how your doing too?

Sunday, 11 January 2015

Hello lovelies, so following from my post the other day about my the Lancome perfume i received for Christmas from my lovely Samuel, i had a few requests on instagram to follow up with the rest of what i received, so here it is!

As most people state in these types of videos, im not in anyway bragging or showing off, im simply showing you guys what i received, i am extremely grateful for all of my presents, big or small :)

I do hope you like this video and please let me know what else you would like me to film for you, i was also thinking of doing a Q&A video, so please leave your questions below for me or tweet me @frankiebooblog

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

With new year, brings new makeup and with new makeup brings new seflies!

Only kidding, but i have been keen to show you my current look ive been sporting over the last few months!

Ive been seriously into gold shadow all over the lids recently, no liner and a slick of black Bare Minerals Lash Domination mascara and my eyes are good to go, well it sounds easy but this gold look actually takes three different products to perfect that true 'gold' look..

Mac Paint Pot - Let Me Pop

(please excuse the curly hair and unplucked brows - keeping it real)

Lancome Pigment - 10

Mac Mineralize Duo - Spiced Metal

The products ive been using recently have literally become staples in my everyday routine, the Dior - Airflash foundation is literally my saviour with the cold weather weve got in the UK at the moment as it provides the perfect coverage without drying my skin out even further, a light dusting of the Clarins - Everlasting powder foundation and using my Collection concealer in light to highlight the under eye are, my face makeup doesnt budge all day, and i mean literally ALL DAY, finish off with a light dusting of my new favourite blush - Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick - Nectar and my face is complete.

Using the Estee Lauder - Brow Pencil in 2 i lightly fill in my brows so they're more defined, i do love a good brow and this product fills them in perfectly without that obvious 'drawn on' look.

A little swipe of Mac - Sunny Seoul lipstick over my lips and im good to go.

What are your go to makeup products recently, and if you have any reccomendations for me let me know in the comments below, hope your all having a good week?

Frankie xXx

Ps: i will be filming a youtube video this week and was wondering what you guys would like to see? let me know x

Monday, 5 January 2015

2014 left us as quickly as 2015 found us, it was such a fast year with many different things that we left there, me and samuel moved into another rental house, i started a new career, we had four lovely kittens and went on a lovely holiday with the parents, even though these seems like really huge things i didnt feel like i achieved anything in 2014.

2015 has huge things set out for Me & Samuel, we are moving out of our rental home in two weeks to go back to Sam's parents as we are saving for a mortgage, we have always wanted to own our own home and moving out at a young age meant we could never afford to do it whilst renting, were so lucky to have a second chance to go home and be able to save as, as lovely as it is having your own space, renting is such a huge waste of money, we are currently paying out around £1300 a month with rent and bills and it just seems like we are throwing money down the drain!

Im almost certain im going to miss my own space but it wont be long and we will have it back again, in the form of our very own home that we actually own!!!

During our stay at home we will both be finally driving, we both know how to physically drive we just havent ever passed our practical/theory tests so as soon as we pass those we will be buying a little car and on the road finally, we are quite old considering most people our age have been driving for around 7-8 years we again just could never afford it whilst renting so this is one of the big things i cant wait to do :)

We are going to Barcelona in three weeks time, so this will be a well needed break away after a hectic move, it will be our 7 year anniversary whilst we are there and i cant wait to finally celebrate an anniversary in another country, we have wanted to do this for the previous years before hand and never got around to doing it so im very excited and looking forward to some quality time away with Samuel <3

The last thing on my list for 2015 is to lose weight, i know most people have this as their new years resolution but i really have to, some of you may know from reading my blog that i gained weight from anxiety medication i was taking for previous years, well i am now off the medication and have already lost quite alot of weight just by stopping them so this year is the final push for me to get back to where i used to be!

So as you can tell this year ahead of us has some big things in store for Me and Sam, fingers crossed this time next year i will be writing a new blog post from my new house with a new year to look forward to!

What are your plans for 2015 and do you have any new years resolutions, let me know i love hearing about them all :)

Friday, 2 January 2015

So i had planned to do the typical beauty blogger christmas edition 'what i got for christmas' post, uhmming and ahhing over whether or not to do that post i decided i would just stick to what i know best and keep it simple and post about the products i love, there is so much scepticism over those posts that i just wasnt sure if it would be a viable move (although if you would like to see a post about it comment and let me know, you may wangle me round!).

I had been banging on and on about Le Vie Est Belle to everyone for so long, i spray it at work continuously on myself and ive probably upped Lancome's sales over the last few months by promoting it so much, but i just didnt own it.

Everyone who knows me, knows im a pefume fiend, my collection is ever growing, but never big enough and i just knew LVEB had to become a staple in my collection!

Samuel had a nudge in the right direction by the mother in law and this landed in my present stash this christmas, i was over the moon as i didnt expect anyone to have remembered me talking about it and that i finally owned my own!

The scent at first is very sickly sweet, but bare with it, when it warms down it is the most beautiful sweet but elegant scent, the notes contain Iris, Orange blossom, Jasmine and Patchouli and considering the notes are floral this fragrance is actually not very floral at all, although you can definitely smell the Iris when first sprayed, the fragrance is warm and inviting, perfect for the cold winter months.
LVEB really lingers around for a long time so even if you only go for a small bottle it will last you a super long time, i sprayed this on my scarf christmas day and i could still smell it when i picked up my scarf yesterday, so your talking a good week and it smells just as beautiful as when i first applied it!

If you ever go past a Lancome counter please have a little test of this fragrance as im sure you will love it as much as i do, a big thankyou to Samuel for getting it for me!